🎧 Episode 18 Get yourself out there - Adam Jeffcoat

For this episode, I sat down with Adam Jeffcoat — award-winning animation director and creator — to talk about an unconventional journey into animation, building original IP, and learning the hard way how the industry really works. But this conversation isn’t just about animation. It’s about finding your own path. About resilience. And about learning to see the industry from the other side of the table. We talk about: ✨ From Spielberg to Animation Adam didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming an animator. He wanted to make films. A chance discovery of Sheridan College eventually led him to animation — and showed him that filmmaking could take a very different form. 🎬 Breaking Out of the System After an early job at Electronic Arts left him frustrated by the way things were being done, Adam decided to take the risk of building his own path — eventually co-founding a studio with his Sheridan colleague Jim. 🚧 The Long Road to Original IP Years of freelance and service work eventually led Adam and his collaborators back to what they really wanted: telling their own stories and developing their own ideas. But getting original projects made proved considerably harder than they expected. 💡 Learning to Pitch the Business Adam talks candidly about the moment he realised that a great creative idea isn't necessarily enough. Understanding what an executive needs, what makes a project commercially viable, and how to create emotional buy-in can be just as important as the creative itself. 🏆 The Emmy That Changed Everything After an exhausting cycle of pitching, Nico & the Sword of Light took an unexpected turn — winning an Emmy after Adam and his team entered the pilot themselves. The award eventually helped lead to Amazon greenlighting the series. 🧠 Resilience When the Answer Is “No” Adam reflects on the rollercoaster of trying to get original work made — and why it's so easy, especially in the current industry climate, to become discouraged or question whether you should continue at all. 🎧 Listen now — and if you want to join these conversations live, with animators and storytellers from around the world, come hang out with us inside The Toon Room: 👉 thetoonroom.com